ShApE

K so I bought a fully built 3.0L a while back with Pauter rods and JE pistons. The person I bought it from said his machinist did all the clearancing. I was still kind of skeptical and had one of my buddies who is a subaru master tech and has built a lot of engines, take mine apart and let me know what he found. Here are the results. What do you think?

Chris White

Looks a little odd.
The mains and some of the rods are a little ‘tight’ – which is odd unless the crank was treated.
The bearing clearance target will depend on what the planned usage is.
The top ring gaps look small for JE pistons – you didn’t say what type rings were used.
Most important – whats the skirt clearance? That’s what will give you issues.
You should have him check for bore taper while he is measuring stuff.

gt37vgt

and remember sometimes "loose is fast" some times "loose is F#*`!%d"

ShApE

They are JE rings, he was saying that the gap was too wide and I would need to order new rings. When you say the ring gaps look small for JE pistons, what do you mean?

Chris White

The top ring is gapped at .010"...way to tight for a turbo motor. JE recomends .06" per inch of idameter...so you need more like .024" (0.61mm).

Too tight a ring gap will cause the ring ends to meet under high temps - and that will trash your cylinder walls quickly.

ShApE

awesome thanks! So what about the oil rings? those are way to big or are they good? Now to figure out the bearings haha

Chris White

Oil rings are not an issue - they don't seal anything!